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I was shocked and upset by the comments, however, I am not by any means naïve to the world of trolling or online bullying. I know that no-one is exempt these days. If you are LGBTQ, BAME, a feminist, a politician or even a Kardashian, you are left vulnerable to online attacks.

There is a near-endless variety of ways that unpicking the chemical evolution of one planet might better inform geoengineering actions on our own. For example, understanding the long-term fate of Martian carbonates and how they interact with the atmosphere and hydrosphere, will teach us how effective this form of carbon storage might be on Earth.

Life may exist on Mars. This is not crazy ranting from a tin foil hat redneck who has crop circle tattoos on their back, enjoys alcohol induced communions with a wounded mother Earth and is married to their sister called Kynleigh. I'm a planetary scientist specialising in Mars chemistry. Let me explain why sending human missions to Mars would be disastrous.

Sport is a good symbol in the fight against ISIS, but science is far better. The free world must unite around a common project that not only holds scientific and liberal values at its core but also, crucially, projects them out across the world - Mars is that project.

David Bowie was a pioneer. The first to embark on a vast array of uncharted turf musically, visually and often philosophically. Chaotic galactic ripples that stem from his work have even influenced exterior forces to bring unimaginable first-time circumstances to bloom, like astronaut Chris Hadfield playing a beautiful acoustic rendition of Space Oddity actually from space. Everything he did, whether it be the execution or the interpretation, was ground-breaking.

Lunar Mission One also aims to investigate the prospects for a permanent lunar base. The Moon is expected to become an important part in the future logistics of the human exploration of Mars, and to help reduce its huge expense.

NASA, or to give it its full name, the National Astronaut Something Acronym has today admitted to having installed specialist software on Mars, which allowed it to cheat water emissions tests. In a shock revelation, Sooper Noaver, head of Really Far Away Rock Research, made the confession to an undercover reporter, in a Florida bar.

Where we diverged in opinion with the opposition was both on calculating the cost of space exploration and on calculating the true cost that neglecting to progress into the cosmos would bring to humanity.

Ok, so what if 2014 turns out to be the hottest year on record? One freak result proves nothing. But here's another one of those unfortunate statistics that, in a sane world, should persuade the climate change sceptics finally to admit defeat: 14 of the 15 warmest years on record have all occurred since the beginning of this century. Nothing to do with us? Sorry, the evidence is overwhelming

So, next week the Scots will decide if they want to be independent. Let me start by declaring a lack of interest in this issue. A complete lack of interest. I think may be one-eighth Scottish but I really don't care if I have Scottish blood coursing through my veins. It hasn't affected my life either way.

Tigers are iconic - perhaps the ultimate icon of the wild. We borrow their image to symbolize power, grace and beauty, yet we invade their habitat and hunt them to extinction. In the early 20th century, there were estimated to be 100,000 tigers in the wild. Today, there are thought to be as few as 3,200 - a catastrophic decline. This hard reality creates the need for business and the conservation community to come together in concerted action.

Because India's most sophisticated Diwali rocket is perceived to be an exercise in technological and geopolitical showboating, Mangalyaan-1's headline-grabbing exploits obscure an objective appreciation of what is unquestionably one of the world's greatest single contributors to human development: ISRO, and the Indian space programme.

In a world of tech start-ups and digital innovation, have the best minds of our generation dedicated themselves to small-scale projects and forgotten about the lure of sci-fi style space exploration? Peter Thiel, one of the Silicon Valley boffins behind Pay Pal, believes this could be the case. And he says the 'collapse of science-fiction' since that 60s could be an explanation.

Over 80,000 people have registered, and paid a deposit, to express their interest in being part of a reality TV programme that aims to send a small number of people to Mars to establish the first colony there.